Pressing machine



Sept. 10, 1940.

J. F RAYNO-LDS PRESSING MACHINE Filed April 5, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l INvENToR 5 0% M 0 A w R Pr N w J Patented Sept. 10, 1940 PATENT. OFFICE PRESSING MACHINE John F. Raynolds,

Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to The Unipress Company,

Incorporated,

Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application April 3, 1936, Serial No. 72,577

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in pressing devices and is particularly concerned with means for ironing or pressing the upper back or yoke portions of sleeved garments. The invention has found valuable use in pressing wash garments, such as the coats of mens summer wash suits, and various types of coats worn by doctors, dentists, hospital employees, as well as certain classes of washable uniforms worn both by women and men.

It has heretofore been customary to press at one operation the entire yoke on a single pressing surface having an over-all dimension substantially equal to the over-all distance between the 15 sleeve seams of a garment.

There is now in common use an ironing or pressing buck which is roughly rectangular in plan contour, and which has its longest dimension extending in direction transverse to the operator as he faces the machine. The pressing surface is upwardly convexly arched and this arched surface is generated from an axis which extends transversely of the press or in a direction parallel to the pivotal aXis of the presser head arm. In addition, this old type of buck is provided with a semi-circular recess at the mid-portion of its rear edge for permitting the collar of the coat or garment to fall below the pressing surface, out of the way while the upper part of the back or yoke is being ironed.

A disadvantage of the above mentioned structure for the purpose mentioned is that while the buck has a fixed length, the distance between the sleeve seams of various sizes of the garments to be pressed, varies considerably. Thus, it often happens that two press operations are necessary, between which operations the garment must be moved, because the distance between the sleeve seams is greater than the over-all length of the 40 buck. In this case, the garment is first laid so as to have the sleeve seam engage or register with one end of the buck, then the press is closed. Then the press is opened, the garment is shifted to bring the opposite sleeve seam against or in register with the opposite side of the buck, and the press is again closed.

It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a system'for pressing the type of ganments mentioned in which production is speeded up. This is accomplishedby simultaneously partly pressing two garments, in such. manner that at each press operation, after the first, a garment leaves the machine completely pressed.

Moreover, I have invented a buck which is so contoured as to conform to the outline of the sleeve seam, shoulder and collar line, of the garment, but which has a transverse width of about half ,or a little over half of the distance between the sleeve seams of the largest coat which may be ironed or pressed thereon. I provide two of these bucks, right hand and left hand, and arrange them at opposite sides of a coat collar buck in the manner later to be described.

Features of the invention include: the system; the arrangement of the bucks on the machine as rights and lefts; the scheme of transfer from one buck to another; the general structure of the buck; the specific structure of the buck; and all broader ideas of means inherent in this disclosure.

Objects, features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description of the drawings forming a part of this application, and in said drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of bucks constructed and arranged in accordance with the teachings of this invention but with the pressing heads omitted;

Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the relation of the pressing head to the bucks when the press is closed;

Figure 3 is a front elevation corresponding to Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the arrangement of the units to carry out a system of pressing claimed herein; and

Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating the manner in which the right and left hand bucks are used and how overlapped pressing is accomplished at the middle of the yoke of the garment, to assure complete pressing in this region. 7

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view'of a pressing machine constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention. With the exception of the two outside bucks, the press may be of any suitable form and there is no intention to entirely limit the invention to the particular form of press, arrangement of bucks. These presses usually have a frame, generally indicated I, upwardly from which extends an upright (or a pair of uprights) indicated at 2. To this upright is pivoted the presser arm 3, by means of a pivot 4. To the arm is attached, see Figure 3, a cross-beam 5 and to this cross-beam are attached three presser heads respectively indicated 6, I and B, cooperating respectively with bucks ,9, l0 and II. These bucks are preferably supported in raised position by springs not shown, and are adapted to be moved downwardly against spring action by the heads. Each buck is usually covered by a pad indicated at M, in Figure 2, and in this Figure 2 the press is shown in pressing position, although no garment is shown thereon.

Before describing the structure of my improved buck in detail, I will first describe my system or method. In using the press, the right half of the yoke is pressed on the buck 9, which is at the left of the operator, and the left half of the yoke is pressed on the buck II which is at the right of the operator (see diagram Figure 5). After nor to the particular pressing the right half of the garment, it is transferred to the right hand buck to complete the pressing operation, but before closing the press to complete this pressing of the first garment, a second garment is placed on the left hand buck and both pressing operations are simultaneously accomplished to complete the pressing of the first garment and to press one-half of the second garment. The second garment is then transferred to the right hand buck, and a third garment is placed on the left hand buck, etc.

The central buck I0 is curved in a transverse direction, as shown in Figure 3, that is, its upwardly convex surface is generated from an axis which is at right angles to the pivotal axis of the pressing head. The buck II is for pressing the collars of various kinds of garments. Thus, in practice each buck is used for ironing a certain portion of a separate coat and, therefore, each time the press is opened after pressing, one coat with yoke and collar completely ironed is ready for removal. For example, a coat is placed on buck 9, a, partly pressed coat is placed on buck while the collar of the third coat is placed on buck I0. The press is then closed; then opened; the coat on the buck II is removed; the coat on buck 9 is transferred to buck another coat is arranged on buck 9 and the pressis again closed. Each coat is first placed on buck 9 and may then be placed on buck H, or on buck I0, and is thus passed from left to right.

There is no intention to entirely limit the invention to the exact plan contour of the buck shown in the drawing, although this is claimed along with the broader aspects of the invention. The buck has an over-all length, in a transverse direction, which is slightly greater than one-half of the distance between the sleeve seams, at the back of the coat. If there is a middle back seam for the coat, the seam will always lie on the pressing surface whenthe sleeve seam is engaging an end of the buck or is in register -with an end or lateral side of the buck. In other words, each buck is of suflicient length in a direction transverse to the machine, or parallel to the pivotal axis of the head of the press, to cause the center seam of the largest sized garment, to lie substantially at the extreme outer edge of the buck, but to always be supported thereby so that complete pressing of this portion of the garment is assured.

These bucks are made in, and related as, rights and lefts, and when I use the expression related as rights and lefts, I refer to.a relation like that shown in the drawings, in which the concave surfaces 2| and 2| are opposed, or to an arrangement (not shown) in which the surfaces |8-| 8' are opposed, instead of the surfaces 2|2|'. As shown, the right hand side of the yoke of the garment is pressed on the left hand buck, and the left hand side of the yoke is pressed on the right hand buck, but this relation may be reversed so that the left half is pressed on the left hand buck and the right half on the right hand buck.

Referring to left hand buck 9, it has an upwardly faced convex surface I6, a straight front edge H, a straight outer edge I 8, a concave rear edge l9 which corresponds substantially to the connection line between the collar and the body of the coat. The edge l9 merges into a straight rear edge portion 20, which corresponds to the shoulder line and which merges into a concave side portion 2| corresponding to the line of .the sleeve seam.

The right hand buck H has a contour corresponding to that of the buck 9, including an outer front straight edge ll', an outer straight edge l8, a concave rear edge I9, a straight edge 20', corresponding to the shoulder line and an inner concave edge 2| corresponding to the sleeve seam line.

Figure 5 shows diagrammatically the pressing relations of the surfaces of the bucks to the garment yoke as a whole, and illustrates how by this system, part of the middle portion of the yoke is twice and overlappingly pressed. The position of the left hand buck is shown in full lines, while that of the right hand buck is shown in dotted lines. The outline of the garment is shown by dot-and-dash lines.

Figure 4 diagrammatically illustrates a method of arranging a battery of presses and an arrangement of bucks thereon which is claimed herein. A coat body and sleeve buck is generally indicated at 25, and there may be more than one of these bucks. The press shelf or table is indicated at 26. The pressing heads are omitted. The table of the other press is indicated at 29,

and is arranged at right angles to the table 26.

On the table 29 are arranged the previously described bucks. Each press is designed to supplement the work of the other, by having certain lays on one press accomplished during the pressing operation by the other press.

It is again noted that the plan contour of the yoke buck may be varied for various kinds of garments in which the contour of the inner edge of the buck might be straight, convex or concave and each of the contours of the edges ll, |8, H, 20 and 2| may be changed.

Another feature of the invention relates to the combination of the two bucks 9 and or their equivalents with another buck such as a collar pressing buck, or its equivalent, allon the same table, with corresponding presser heads on the same presser arm, 'or with these heads simultaneously engageable with respective bucks.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine for pressing the upper back portion or yoke of a sleeved garment having, a pair of transversely spaced yoke pressing bucks left hand and right hand, of a pivoted presser head arm having presser heads simultaneously coop;-

tion or yoke of a sleeved garment having, a pair JOHN F. RAYNOLDS. 

